Whisper of Evil
by ShNLo
Summary: When things all over the factory begin to go awry, Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket are forced to investigate. And then, things get REALLY nightmarish for little Charlie...
1. Disappearances

**Story Title**: Whisper of Evil

**Rating**: PG: For Some Scary Moments and Thematic Events

**Summary**: Just when everyone's getting settled down from the big episode of Willy Wonka's attempts to find an heir, strange things begin to happen. Oompa-Loompas start disappearing. Factory machines begin to malfunction. When things become real nightmarish for little Charlie Bucket, can he get to the bottom of it and save Willy Wonka's amazing Chocolate Factory?

**Disclaimer**: Roald Dahl's characters, names,and/or any other things mentioned herein this fanfiction are completely his own. This fanfiction is not being used to gain money in any way, shape, or form, nor does the Author claim ownership of any titles, characters, names, and/or any other thing.

**WARNING!** May contain movie spoilers! The Author is not liable as to what she writes. As an early warning, if you have not seen the movie yet, you may wish to discontinue reading and watch the movie first. Best wishes from the Author.

A soft whistle in young Charlie Bucket's ear made the small, timid boy jump a mile. He whirled around quickly, uttered an odd-sounding 'umpf' as he hit a soft midsection, and at the exact same time his assailant yelped in surprise. Both attacker and attackee fell over with a thump.

Charlie was the first to sit up. He groaned. "My head… Mr. Wonka!" He finally realized who it was that had startled him so badly. It was his mentor, Willy Wonka, who at that direct moment was mumbling nonsense curse words under his breath and staring up at the high ceiling of the Chocolate Waterfall room. Charlie scrambled to his feet and crept over towards Willy, who failed to administer his presence and continued to mumble things. At the sight of Charlie's face staring down at him, upside down, he gave a strangled, surprised sounding noise and immediately tried to crawl away, but failed horribly.

"What are you, who do you want, I do didn't anything!" Wonka appeared to be knocked silly by his collision with his young heir, for none of his sentences made sense, if that makes any sensible sense at all. He blinked several times, then reached up a purple gloved hand and rubbed them over his eyes just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. A steadfast image of Charlie remained in his vision, and so he decided that he wasn't imagining it. Come to think of it, Willy had come to see Charlie on purpose. Charlie had startled him so bad he fell over. His eyebrows knitted together above his eyes. He looked up at Charlie, then plastered an enormous grin on his face and giggled. "Hiya! I guess you kinda startled me there, huh?"

"Er… I guess so, Mr. Wonka…" Charlie murmured, slightly embarrassed at knocking his mentor over. He brushed a tad of the grass off of his sweater and failed to mention that it was Willy himself that had startled _him_, but he supposed he had startled Mr. Wonka too.

Willy cocked his head ever so slightly to the side and shrugged. "Ah well. We have much more pressing matters!" He whirled around and headed off in a random direction. Charlie raised a finger, opened his mouth and was about to shout after Wonka the question of where he was going, when with an almighty **_THUMP_** the great Chocolatier hit the clear glass door of the Great Glass Elevator. Hat, cane, and silver W Wonka pendant went flying in all directions and Willy Wonka fell to the ground.

He rolled over onto his stomach and scrabbled for his hat and cane. Charlie, some distance away, picked up the W pendant from the grass at his feet. Willy slapped the hat on his head, clutched his cane, and muttered, "I seriously need to watch where I park this thing…" as he jammed his thumb down upon the clear glass button with a frosted circle engraved on its surface. The Elevator gave a pleasant little dinging noise and the glass doors glided open.

Charlie walked over and handed Mr. Wonka his W pendant. Willy fixated it on his collar and then gave a toothy smile. "Gosh darned little thing likes to get away from me, doesn't it?" When Charlie nodded in agreement, Willy briskly stepped into the Elevator, followed by Charlie.

"Mr. Wonka, what was so important that we have to hurry…?" Charlie asked timidly, craning his neck to see the very tall, extremely well dressed if not slightly overdressed, man. Willy Wonka was humming his own theme song and appeared not to have heard, especially since he continued to hum even as he jammed his purple-gloved thumb against a button behind him. Because it was behind Mr. Wonka, Charlie couldn't see what the room was labeled.

They waited for a few moments, before the Glass Elevator shot off with such force to the right that Charlie was thrown against the left side. Willy appeared not to have noticed the sudden movement and neither moved nor even blinked.

Charlie opened his mouth to once again propose his question but instead what came out was a startled yelp, for the Elevator had slammed to a stop just outside a fairly familiar room in Charlie's memory. "The Inventing Room?" he asked, slightly amused. Wonka was, even if only slightly, an eccentric man, and even the _least_ important thing could seem the most important thing in the world! And he had shown this to Charlie on more than one occasion.

"Of course, my dear boy! We have so much time and so little to do!" he exclaimed. Then he stopped abruptly, frowned, smiled, frowned again, then smiled even wider. "Oopsie. Switch that around, please." Then he went charging through the Inventing Room doors. Charlie grinned widely and followed him, having to take almost five steps for every long stride Mr. Wonka took.

Machines buzzed, whirred, and popped as they worked, and as Charlie stopped to stare in wonder at the Everlasting Gobstopper machine that shot Gobstoppers into the pool where an red-uniformed Oompa-Loompa swam around with flippers on his feet. Or was it a her? It was hard to tell with the Oompa-Loompas. They all looked the same. As Charlie was pondering this, he finally looked around, about to ask his mentor whether he knew if the Oompa-Loompa was a he or a she, when he realized Mr. Wonka wasn't there. "Mr. Wonka…? Mr. Wonka? Mr. Wonka!"

Oh, great. This was just _great_. Now he'd lost him. This room was so big, he'd probably NEVER find Willy! "Mr. Wonka!" Charlie yelled louder, his fast walk turning into a jog and then a run. His sneakers screamed against the tile floor as Charlie skidded around the corner. He gave an almighty 'umpf' as he once again collided with a soft midsection.

His mentor grabbed wildly at a counter to keep upright, and his hand shot out to grasp Charlie's shoulder to keep _him_ from falling.

"Sorry, Mr. Wonka!" Charlie gasped, steadying himself with Wonka's arm. Willy just shrugged.

"It's alright, it's alright, anyway, we've got more important things." For the first time Charlie noticed the deep furrow in Mr. Wonka's brow. His eyes were squeezed near shut in concentration. His face seemed almost paler than usual, and he clutched at his elaborate cane with squeezed fists.

And it was now that the currently serious man administered his news. "Oompa-Loompas are disappearing."

**Author's Notes**: Well… I can't say I really got this idea from anywhere, but if anything, some ideas were partially inspired by my fellow Charlie and the Chocolate Factory writers. Thanks guys! The title of the story came from a book I'm currently reading, Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown's book Whisker of Evil. I'm sure at least a few people noticed the "We've got so much time and so little to do!" bit. Yes, I did watch the Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory movie… in fact, just a few hours ago. Hehe. And oh dear! Oompa-Loompas are disappearing! Where to? I shall not say. My lips are sealed. Willy Wonka would wish it anyway. You'll find out in the next chapter!

**Chapter Two Preview**: Oompa-Loompas are disappearing, and Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket are on the case! Things really start to heat up when – oh wait… that would be telling, wouldn't it?

**Reviewers**: Please review. And I'm open to flames. And no… this will NOT be a Willy/Charlie slash. In fact, none of my stories will _ever_ be a Willy/Charlie slash. As the little kid from the Invader ZIM episode 'Bad Bad Rubber Piggy' would say… "I HATE THEM! I hate them so much!" I'm sorry and I apologize to all the people who DO write such atrocities, I do not hate you, I hate the _idea_. To think of Willy _loving_ Charlie… uck. Shame on you!


	2. A Stomach Ache

**Story Title**: Whisper of Evil

**Rating**: PG: For Some Scary Moments and Thematic Events

**Summary**: Just when everyone's getting settled down from the big episode of Willy Wonka's attempts to find an heir, strange things begin to happen. Oompa-Loompas start disappearing. Factory machines begin to malfunction. When things become real nightmarish for little Charlie Bucket, can he get to the bottom of it and save Willy Wonka's amazing Chocolate Factory?

**Disclaimer**: Roald Dahl's characters, names,and/or any other things mentioned herein this fanfiction are completely his own. This fanfiction is not being used to gain money in any way, shape, or form, nor does the Author claim ownership of any titles, characters, names, and/or any other thing.

**WARNING!** May contain movie spoilers! The Author is not liable as to what she writes. As an early warning, if you have not seen the movie yet, you may wish to discontinue reading and watch the movie first. Best wishes from the Author.

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"Oompa-Loompas are… disappearing…?" Charlie whispered hoarsely. How could this be happening? Nobody could have gotten inside, could they? The factory was always locked up, wasn't it? Well, besides the fact that the trucks went in and out so often. Charlie supposed it could be possible. But _why_ would anyone want to do such a horrible thing? Charlie supposed it could be possible that somebody wanted revenge on Mr. Wonka. After all. It wasn't exactly if he had invited them to a pleasant tea party, was it?

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A dark figure in a secluded area watched little Charlie Bucket's reaction with some satisfaction. A sinister, but unseen, smile crept across the figure's face, and who continued to watch even as Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket walk away.

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"Yes. It's most disturbing. Of course, only a few have disappeared… Only black uniformed ones, for some odd reason." Charlie nodded. He remembered the black-uniformed Oompa-Loompas from the Inventing Room, especially since several of them just rushed past to help a fellow who was having trouble with the Wonka's Magic Chewing Gum machine.

"Mr. Wonka, what do you think happened to the Oompa-Loompas?" Charlie asked, more to himself really than to Willy. Musing over this problem himself, he ran the one unvoiced question through his mind; _And why would anyone **want** to kidnap Oompa-Loompas?_ Of course, he left this question to himself, for it might further upset the obviously upset Wonka. Who would want that?

Willy didn't answer, he just continued to walk along at a startlingly fast pace, making it hard for Charlie to keep up. His eyebrows where furrowed together in concentration and his nose was scrunched up in a rather funny way that almost made Charlie want to laugh. The unpleasant feeling of wanting to laugh at Mr. Wonka's confusion and frustration made him feel sick to his stomach. "Mr. Wonka, may I be excused…?" he mumbled, almost hoping for him to say he didn't care.

Willy looked down at him and his features softened. He almost looked worried. "Why of course, my dear boy… you look like you're not feeling well." When Charlie nodded, Willy slightly smiled. "The Elevator is just where we left it, outside the room. You can take it. I'll find some other mode of transportation, eh?"

Charlie nodded thankfully and went hurrying out of the room.

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The figure watched things unfold with mounting glee. Everything was going according to plan! Good thing it slipped Charlie the candy stuff that gave enemies a stomach ache. Now it could begin its nefarious work. It simply couldn't wait.

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After a full six hours of lying in bed and befuddling his brain with the problem of the disappearing Oompa-Loompas, Charlie's stomach began to feel better. His mind was starting to speed up a bit, too. He levered himself out of bed and slid down his ladder, instead of climbing down. His parents and grandparents were there, as always, to greet him.

"Evening, Charlie," Mrs. Bucket said brightly, bustling around the small kitchen, cooking a dinner that smelled wonderful.

"Evening, Mum," Charlie responded, glancing at Mr. Bucket, who was currently curled up, snug as a bug, on the couch, reading one of his favorite books. Charlie's face split into a grin even as there was a knock on the door. Either it was an Oompa-Loompa come to usher Charlie away to Mr. Wonka, or it was Mr. Wonka himself. Charlie bounded over to the door with new found enthusiasm and threw open the door to reveal a certain candy-making man. Charlie's grin widened. "Evening, Mr. Wonka!"

Willy had appeared deep in thought, as he had been the last few days. At the sight of Charlie opening the door with such exuberance forced him out of his thought processes and smiled. He giggled slightly, in that nervous way he always seemed to, and seeing as how he always did it Charlie thought nothing of it. Why should he think anything of it? "Why hello, my dear boy. I see you're feeling much better." A long pause followed. "You... _are_ feeling better, right?"

Charlie nodded, the huge grin still plastered to his face like wet paper will stick to your skin. "Yep! In fact, I've been thinking a lot about the Oompa-Loompa problem," he said, drawing a slight, ever so slight shudder from his mentor. "Oh. Sorry Mr. Wonka."

"It's quite alright," he said, his voice slightly high-pitched. He trudged into the house past Charlie and hung up his hat, inevitably wanting to not talk about it. Charlie closed the door with a light snapping sound and slipped past Mr. Wonka, who stood awkwardly by the coat rack, to help his mother with setting the table. Willy found dinner with the Buckets always fairly interesting, but today he really didn't want to stay. But, of course, he felt obliged to. He owed that much to Charlie to make up for his rude behavior concerning his p… his p… oh, you know. _Them_.

"So how's the candy industry coming, Willy?" Mr. Bucket asked suddenly, making Willy jump. Then he grinned a large, fake grin and nervously giggled.

"It's going great. Yeh." When Mr. Bucket smiled and nodded, sticking his nose back in his book, Wonka frowned slightly in that funny way of his. Then he smiled again when he noticed that Grandma Georgina was watching him.

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After a long (and tediously boring, in Willy's opinion, which he kept to himself) dinner, Willy Wonka exited the cozy little house. Charlie watched him go, rather sadly, then scaled the ladder up to his room to go to bed. He still didn't feel a hundred per cent well, so he decided to go to bed early, and possibly ponder the mystery over the disappearing Oompa-Loompas. Little did he know that the forces of Evil were at work once more.

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The figure grinned insanely, reached out a hand, and snagged a lone Oompa-Loompa that was walking by on his way to close up the Inventing Room for the night. The figure bound and gagged the Oompa-Loompa and set him among his fellows, who were also bound and gagged. The figure grinned wider, it's eyes sparkling with the kind of glee only a maniac could have. But was it really a maniac…?

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**Author's Notes**: Well. Here's the second installment to my story, which I've been plotting out, and it turns out that it will be a _very_ long one indeed. Hopefully I've spaced the events out enough and plotted well enough to keep the sheet over your eyes. Giggles like Willy Wonka and grins. I'm just having the most _smashing_ time thinking this up. My mind amazes me sometimes. And I'm sorry the last chapter was so bad. It was the start of the story, you know, so it was fairly difficult for my brain to process things. Anyhow, I was looking at some of my fellow Fanfictioners today and I just had to suppress a gag at most of them. Male pregnation? Who would think of such a horrid thing? My stomach felt like it was going to heave, especially when I looked at the reviews. Uck. Giggles like Willy Wonka again. You'll find me saying uck a lot. It's one of my favorite sayings. Anywho, er… I guess that's it for now. I noticed I haven't gotten any reviews. I'm hurt. Please take the time to review. 'Twould make the author very happy indeed.

**Chapter Three Preview**: More Oompa-Loompas have been kidnapped! Willy Wonka's on wits end, and Charlie still can't figure it out – hopefully things will clear up sooner and the sheet will be removed from the heroes' eyes.

**Reviewers**: Please review. As I've said before, 'twould make for a very happy author. I'm even open to flames, if you don't like my story. It simply forces me to build up a barrier, build my character, and build my writing skills more. And again, I'll say it… this will _not_ be a Willy/Charlie slash fanfiction. So get that out of your sick little minds.


	3. An 'Accident'

**Story Title**: Whisper of Evil

**Rating**: PG: For Some Scary Moments and Thematic Events

**Summary**: Just when everyone's getting settled down from the big episode of Willy Wonka's attempts to find an heir, strange things begin to happen. Oompa-Loompas start disappearing. Factory machines begin to malfunction. When things become real nightmarish for little Charlie Bucket, can he get to the bottom of it and save Willy Wonka's amazing Chocolate Factory?

**Disclaimer**: Roald Dahl's characters, names,and/or any other things mentioned herein this fanfiction are completely his own. This fanfiction is not being used to gain money in any way, shape, or form, nor does the Author claim ownership of any titles, characters, names, and/or any other thing.

**Foreward Note**: Ah hah ha! So I did have reviewers for the first chap.! Sorry about that. I guess I just didn't wait long enough. –Giggles in an embarrassed way.-

**WARNING!** May contain movie spoilers! The Author is not liable as to what she writes. As an early warning, if you have not seen the movie yet, you may wish to discontinue reading and watch the movie first. Best wishes from the Author.

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The next few days progressed rapidly with no sign of disappearing Oompa-Loompas, and Charlie was beginning to settle down again, as was everyone else. Willy Wonka still appeared to be brooding over the matter of the missing Oompa-Loompas, but seeing as how neither he nor Charlie could find one bit of evidence concerning the matter they left it well alone.

Willy Wonka kept to himself mostly during these days of brooding, which were about every other day mostly. Charlie kept himself busy with books, practicing his writing (which he rarely spent time on, and was delighted to find he had much more time to do so.), and helping his family with necessary things. Charlie was well-to-do for the first few days, seemed rather disappointed at not seeing Mr. Wonka the next, then inevitably cheered up when Willy appeared rather unexpectedly for dinner in the middle of the week.

A knock on the Buckets' front door sent Charlie rocketing over to the entry way. He threw it open and had to restrain himself from throwing himself exuberantly upon his startled mentor. Mr. Wonka gave a silly little giggle and ruffled Charlie's hair, smiling. But it was only a half-hearted smile. Charlie didn't even notice, grasping Willy's hand and tugging him into the house. "C'mon, you're just in time for dinner!"

Wonka was willingly pulled into the house, where Charlie released his grasp on Willy's hand and went zooming over to where his mother was cooking. "Can I help, Mum? Please?" Mrs. Bucket laughed and nodded, giving Charlie a dish of potatoes to carry over to the table. He did so, almost knocking Mr. Bucket over as he attempted to set the table.

"My gosh, you're eager today," Willy said, his face screwed up in an almost frightened expression; of course, it wasn't truly fear; it was just being weirded out by the young child's excited nature. Seeing as how Willy Wonka had been shut up in his factory for so many years to himself and only his dear Oompa-Loompas, Willy just wasn't used to the kind of exuberant atmosphere most humans could produce.

Charlie didn't answer, but continued to cheer everyone up with his joyful behavior.

"Just like a little jumpin' bean. Yeh." Willy's face remained in that weirded-out expression of his, then he turned and hung up his hat, set his cane down by the door, and everyone settled in for another dinner.

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Charlie Bucket grinned wide, opened his mouth, and popped the candy morsel into his mouth. He worked his mouth around a bit, then looked up at his mentor, who was watching patiently. "It's perfect!" Charlie said, his voice slightly muffled by the mouthful he had. He chewed it up and swallowed it, then glanced down at the clipboard and sheet of paper in his hand. Next to 'Sugar Raspberries' were two check boxes, one beneath a heading that proclaimed 'Unfinished' and one that stated the word 'Completed' in bold plum-red lettering, the same rich color of Willy Wonka's coat.

The current candy they had been perfecting was a raspberry that was made entirely out of spun sugar, which changed raspberry flavors in your mouth. It went from Black Raspberry to Red Raspberry to Blue Raspberry, etc., and then basically dissolved. Once you'd chewed it a bit, that is. "It only needs to dissolve more, I think. I still had to chew it."

Willy nodded and frowned. "For some reason it just won't dissolve. I think it's either a problem with the sugar mixture or those gosh darned Oompa-Loompas." An Oompa-Loompa dissolved into a pure giggling state behind him even as he said that. Wonka rolled his eyes, then snapped his fingers together, a peculiar sound of latex squeaking together and the natural snap of fingers. An Oompa-Loompa came rushing up and dragged his fellow off to help him out. The said tiny person was still giggling madly. "I think we're going to have to perfect those Laughter Gummies. They don't appear to be quite right yet."

Charlie checked the Unfinished box on the Daily Testing chart next to the Sugar Raspberries. Directly below that were the checkboxes for the Laughter Gummies. Willy Wonka started off at a trot, and Charlie bounded after him. A groaning sound overhead caused Charlie to pause, and look up. Nothing greeted his eyes but the steel grate of the overhead walkway that the Oompa-Loompas so often used.

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As Willy and Charlie finished up in the Inventing Room, Willy looked down at Charlie and Charlie looked up at Willy. "Well, I need to finish up in the Nut Room. Why don't you finish closing down for the night?" Charlie grinned and nodded. Mr. Wonka was finally allowing him to close up one of the rooms! Better yet, by himself! Willy went striding out of the room and closed the door behind him. What no one saw was the dark figure that slipped in the back way.

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Charlie walked back over the spot he had paused on earlier. He stared up at the metal grate, which seemed to squeak slightly as he stared intently at it. It groaned. Charlie's face contorted into one of puzzlement, when a sudden snap alerted him to the fact that the grate had broke away from its' support beams. Charlie was frozen with fear as the grate came smashing down to Earth. The Oompa-Loompas nearby rushed to what they were certain was little Charlie Bucket's demise.

What startled all of the Oompa-Loompas was that a fully living, breathing boy was laying flat on his back just beyond the mess of grate and floor and ceiling that had come away with the snapped support beams.

Charlie ignored the Oompa-Loompas, and for one small, seemingly insignificant second, he caught a glimpse of the perpetrator – for he was now certain that somebody had clearly meant him harm – but it wasn't enough to go by. It was a mere flash of red, possibly cloth. Charlie smashed his fist angrily against the floor and gave a strangled cry of frustration. Charlie, not usually one to jump to conclusions, jumped immediately to the conclusion that the same person who had tried to bump him off – to use so crude a term – was the same person who had been kidnapping Oompa-Loompas! He was _sure_ of it!

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**Author's Notes**: Hooray! A cheer for the third piece of a puzzling mystery. (At least I hope.) Oooh-hoo-hoo, I'm such a teaser, aren't I? 'It was a mere flash of red, possibly cloth.' I bet that just burst your excitement bubble, didn't it? I sure hope it did. I'd look forward to writing more of the story if it did. Haha!

And I can be proud to say that I am most likely the only person to ever even _attempt_ a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mystery. Interesting. So okay, you're probably all thinking seriously about strangling the Author for not giving a bigger clue than a flash of red cloth – but gee, doesn't it narrow down a few choices of revenge go-ers, or whatever? Hehe. Okay. Here's my proposition. I am offering you all a hint – you don't have to take it, of course, if you'd rather just try playing the game of SuperSleuth – just simply e-mail or message me to ask me for it. Of course, just because I'm giving _you_ a hint doesn't mean I want you to go blab it out to everybody – some people would rather not know. And if you figure out who the perp (short for perpetrator) is early on into the story, don't go screaming it out to everybody else – keep your peace. Please. And if you've stayed with me after all that, God bless you.

**Chapter Four Preview**: After the attempted assassination of little Charlie Bucket, a distressed Mr. Wonka shuts himself up for a long while. Is Wonka going Wonkers?

**Reviewers**: Please review. As I've said before, 'twould make for a very happy author. I'm even open to flames, if you don't like my story. It simply forces me to build up a barrier, build my character, and build my writing skills more. And again, I'll say it… this will _not_ be a Willy/Charlie slash fanfiction. So get that out of your sick little minds.


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